Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Amirah
I bite down on the rope, tugging. It doesn’t budge much.
Fuck. I release it, spitting out the fibers stuck to my tongue.
Pulling down, I try to make my hand as small as it can be.
If I can release one hand, then I can free myself from these constraints.
Kai, Zion, and Bear are gone—this might be my only chance to escape, and I won’t waste it.
My arms and legs feel weak from being pinned to the target.
Every muscle aches. I keep pulling. Blood drips down my fingers.
The rope burns my skin, but I can’t stop.
My hand moves along the rope, just slightly, and hope blooms inside me.
A couple more inches, then I’m free—well, at least one hand will be.
Sweat runs down my forehead and into my eyes. I squeeze them shut, gritting my teeth. I want to be home, sleeping in my own bed, talking this whole wild ordeal over with Freya. Does Gage know I’m gone? By now, surely they have The Brotherhood out looking for me.
It won’t be long until they’re knocking down Bear’s door. Do theme parks have a door? I wouldn’t know since I was unconscious when I was dragged in. Then this will all be put behind me and I can go back to my life. Away from this hell.
My hand releases, falling to my side. I grin, opening my eyes, and get to work untying my other hand, then my legs.
I drop to the ground, and my legs give way.
I fall onto my knees, pain biting into my skin as I brace my hands on the concrete floor.
Blood covers my right hand, both from the rope burn and my attempt at self-defense with the mirror, turning my stomach.
Move.
As I push myself back up, my head spins and the room blurs before the concrete comes back to me.
I stand, my feet wobbling. Multiple targets and other carnival games fill the room.
Clowns with open mouths move from left to right, and bottles hang from the ceiling.
Where’s the door? I don’t remember coming into the room; my memory is fuzzy.
I move toward the wall, reaching out, and I brush along the white paint.
I follow the wall until my fingers wrap around the doorknob.
I twist and it opens. As I peer through the tiny gap, darkness meets me.
Kai, Zion, and Bear aren’t in here. I step onto the dirt-covered floor.
The roof is gone, and the dark, star-filled sky meets me.
A half-moon gives me the slightest bit of light.
There are rows and rows of coffins. Skulls lie on top of some, and it feels like they are staring right through me. The dead don’t scare me. I’ve seen so much death in my life that it barely even registers. They can’t hurt me anymore. It’s the living that do.
The next room is hot, sticky, and filled with butterflies.
The fluttering of their wings sounds like a lullaby.
They calm me, and my shoulders relax for the first time tonight.
A large yellow-and-orange butterfly lands on my forearm, then another and another.
The downlights reflect off their wings. I move quickly through the room toward the next door, and by the time I get there, I’m covered in butterflies.
Maybe they can lift me out of here. I scoff to myself. Yeah, not going to happen.
Some of the butterflies stay with me as I step into the room full of mirrors. My reflection is everywhere, following me around. My brown hair sticks to my skin, and my face is a ghoulish white and black from my mascara running down my cheeks. I look like a mess.
Voices carry through from the next room.
I reach the door and open it slightly, peering inside.
I’m met with a deep-red curtain. I step forward, peeking through the little gap.
Kai, Zion, and Bear are sitting on a large couch, with their backs to the door, in deep conversation.
The room is covered in graffiti and mirrors.
“We need more people on our side,” Zion says. “And we need weapons.”
More people? Are they going to take more women like me?
I suck in a breath, then quickly cover my mouth.
My elbow hits the wall. I quickly shut the curtain, taking a step back. My pulse speeds up, my chest rising and falling as I wait for them to come through the red velvet, but after several heartbeats, no one comes.
I can’t go in there—not with them sitting around in wait—but I can’t return the way I came from either. It only leads back to the room where I was trapped.
I open the curtain once again, peering back inside. They are still sitting on the couch.
“We need a nuke, so I can just blow them all up,” Bear says, grinning.
I swallow past the lump in my throat. After being with Bear tonight, it wouldn’t surprise me if he did find a way to get a weapon of mass destruction. We’d all be dead, gone in seconds.
“What? Then we die anyway from radiation?” Zion asks, taking the words from my own mouth.
Bear’s mouth falls open, and he curses. “I can get us more money to get weapons from someone else.”
“How?” Zion asks, and the corner of Bear’s mouth raises.
“The usual—people pay for these guns of steel,” he flexes his muscles, and Zion rolls his eyes.
“We need more than funds and men to take down The Brotherhood,” Zion says.
“We need to play this smart. We need to figure out how many of their men are left after the blowup with Dominic, and where their weapons are. Maybe find out more about the docks, their shipments—if we can take over that, we can control the whole district.”
“What about using women for intel?” Bear suggests. “I mean, we’ve got the perfect starting point with Amirah at our disposal.”
“Why women? Everyone knows The Brotherhood is a male-run organization,” Kai says.
“No, Bear’s onto something. Those boys are pussy-whipped by Freya; she’s basically got a seat at the table. Maybe this is a new age of The Brotherhood, where the women have more voice, and there’s nothing a woman loves more than a bleeding-heart sob story,” Zion says.
Kai throws his phone at Bear, and he catches it.
“Get one of your friends at the club to run interference for us. Tell them that you heard Amirah was taken by some college guys in Berkeley. It’ll give us time to figure this shit out,” Kai says, and Bear breathes out heavily through his nose.
“I’ll see what I can do,” Bear says.
I swallow hard. I want to scream, to run, but I can’t move. They have it all wrong. Women hold so much more power than they realize. If they went about this differently, if they knew that, they could gain the upper hand against The Brotherhood.
The women in the ville—or at least this woman—are done with being treated like second-class citizens just because they have a pussy.
I’ve heard the talk at parties and around town.
Women are over being told “not to worry.” The town hall was blown up!
We’re allowed to be concerned. And after what I’ve discovered these last few months, with everything that happened with Jewel . . . we’re ready to fight back.
The Brotherhood focuses on the men having the power, but what they don’t realize is that behind each man at the table there’s a powerful woman.
I think they are scared of that; they don’t want to give us too much, because they know when a woman is in her full power, she’s the true leader.
If we weren’t, how else would Freya have been able to make the three most obstinate men I’ve met fall to their knees?
Before I can take my next breath, the curtain is ripped open in front of me.
“Boo!” Bear grins, and I scream, taking one, then two steps back through the door and into the room of mirrors.
I run, but everywhere I look, I’m met with myself, and Bear is behind me. His bright-blond hair follows as I run, screaming my lungs out until my throat is dry.
A hand lands on my shoulder, spinning me around, and then I’m forced backward. My back slams into one of the mirrors. A crack pierces my ears. He pushes into me. I feel every inch of his body against mine, his hard cock and bulging muscles pinning me to the mirror.
He takes my jaw, turning my head, but I refuse to look at him. “Fuck, baby. I want to bottle up your screams and listen to them while I stroke my cock.”
He leans in, his breath hot against my cheek.
When he swipes his tongue over my skin, my body reacts.
A million butterflies flutter around in my stomach, my skin burns hot, and I squeeze my eyes shut.
I don’t understand why my body is responding this way.
He’s a bad person. I’m trapped here because of him.
I hate him, but apparently my body is on the fence.
“Enlighten me, princess. What’s going on in that pretty head of yours?”
“Bear, leave her alone,” Kai says from somewhere in the dark room.
Bear moves his fingers along my throat, between my neck and ear. I feel the thump thump of my pulse against his touch. He wraps his fingers around my crystal necklace and tugs, cutting off the air to my lungs. I want to scream.
“You feel that?” he whispers, his hot breath tickling my ear. I shake my head, and Bear chuckles, then releases the necklace. I gasp for air. “You are my favorite captive yet, and I’ve only had you for a couple of hours. There’s so much more fun to be had, my princess.”
I force open my eyes, glaring into his bright-green irises, and roll my shoulders back. “Fuck you. I’m no one’s captive, and I won’t be here much longer.”
Bear laughs. “We’ll see about that. Keep on fighting me, princess. It makes it so much more fun.”
“Enough!” Kai yells. His reflection bounces off the mirrors, and he watches me with a mixture of pain and hatred. “Take her and put her somewhere safe.”
Bear steps away, and my back sags against the mirror. My breathing evens back out, and I look between Bear, Kai, and the open door. I could try to run for it, but I’m not going to get far if I do—and I presume Zion is still on the other side of that door, anyway.
Bear reaches for me, and I move out of his way. Glass pierces my bare feet. Ouch. The corner of his mouth lifts before he pounces, gripping my forearm, then he pulls me out of the room and back into the living room.
Zion is gone, and Kai exits through another door, leaving it open behind him. The cool night air whips through the space, kissing my cheeks. An exit.
I stare at the empty doorway longingly. If I can break free from Bear’s hold and run, I’ll make it outside.
With all the strength I have left, I slam my foot down on Bear’s, and he growls, releasing my arm slightly, which gives me enough momentum to break free.
I run without looking back toward the open door.
Freedom, here I come.